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Rod Bennett: RTD needs to leave taxis alone

Posted:
07/26/2014 01:00:00 AM MDT

I swear, if I encounter one more hysterical RTD “guard” around the Boulder Transit Center who tries to shoo me away when I go there to pick up passengers in my yellow taxi, I'll sign a petition. I'll air a grievance to be un-redressed permanently. I'll appeal to the clogged county court and wait indefinitely. Or, if by the end of that infinity nothing changes, I will write a letter to the editor.

You'd think by the way these guards run after me with their arms waving in panic that I was taking a great leap northward across the border at the demilitarized zone in Korea, that I was attempting to escape from Gaza overland into Egypt, that I was doing something actually contrary to my job description.

For many visitors, this clanging experience is the first they have when they alight from the bus from DIA or Denver. Welcome to Boulder. Happily they stand at the curb of Walnut and 14th because it certainly looks like a legitimate pick-up spot, but as soon as the cab pulls up and the yelling starts or the angry horn of bus 204 blows, it certainly doesn't sound like one.

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For the life of me, I cannot understand why Boulder Transit Center does not have a convenient, accessible and legal place for taxis to pick up passengers, and I've looked at it from many angles — from the nadir of Canyon, to the four sides of 14th, to the zenith of Walnut which boasts downtown's tallest building.

The City of Boulder has recently spent several million dollars on construction projects around 1400 Walnut Street, yet the final link on the chain of smooth public transportation — a place for taxis only — was overlooked. The city should allow taxis to line up at the current 204 bus stand and move the 204 bus stand to the end of the block near 15th Street so our city's taxi drivers don't have to break the law whenever they are called on to do their jobs.

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